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Malaysia casino giant Genting's ski bet pays off at Winter Olympics
Resort near Beijing hosts events starting Thursday, making good on Xi's orders
Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, visits Genting's ski resort with Chairman Lim Chee Wah, in the red jacket, in January 2017. (Courtesy of Genting Resort Secret Garden)
CK TAN, Nikkei staff writerFebruary 3, 2022 15:54 JST
ZHANGJIAKOU, China -- A ski resort backed by tropical Malaysia's Genting Group will host its first Winter Olympics events with freestyle skiing on Thursday, as China prepares for the official opening of the Beijing Games on Friday.
Genting Snow Park, in Zhangjiakou's Chongli County, is the only one out of nine such facilities in the city selected as an Olympic venue. Located about an hour by train from the capital, the park will host adrenaline-filled events including aerials and moguls as well as snowboarding.
All told, around 20 gold medals will be handed out there -- the most for a single Winter Olympics venue.
The resort opened in 2012 as Genting Resort Secret Garden and received a personal inspection by President Xi Jinping five years ago. At the time, he told resort founder Lim Chee Wah to "earnestly implement the plan and ensure the construction of ski slopes as well as [ensure] related supporting facilities are of high quality," according to the facility's website.
China was a latecomer to winter sports, which are more popular among developed economies. Snow falls mainly in the mountains north of Beijing, and before the country's economic surge in recent decades, there were few places to ski.
When Lim, whose late father established Genting itself, was looking for land to build the resort in the mid-1990s, Chongli was only reachable with a five-hour drive.
Still, he and Genting -- a conglomerate best known for its casinos -- bet 18 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) in initial investment to build Secret Garden. It now boasts ski slopes, hotels and residential developments nearby.
"Snow resorts in 1996 were very basic," Lim told Phoenix New Media in an interview last year. "I am an entrepreneur and choosing a location depends on the market, which is crucial to ensure business returns."
During his visit in 2017, Xi expressed gratitude to the Malaysian conglomerate and Lim for their contribution to the Olympics and development of winter sports in China.
The men's and women's moguls qualifying rounds begin at Genting Snow Park on Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, local media are working in overdrive mode to put a positive spin on the Games amid a U.S.-led diplomatic boycott and strict lockdowns in some Chinese cities to curb COVID-19 outbreaks.
State media Xinhua put up a report on Wednesday about China's "dramatic transformation" between the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008 and now, highlighting the country's success in eliminating poverty and achieving lunar exploration breakthroughs.
